oa 


THE    UNIVERSITY    OF 
CALIFORNIA 


A    MONOGRAPH 


BY   HARRY  ALLEN   OVERSTREET 


PUBLISHED     BY 

DEPARTMENT    OF    EDUCATION 


CALIFORNIA  LOUISIANA  PURCHASE   EXPOSITION 
=  COMMISSION  = 

SAN    FRANCISCO,   CAL.,  19O4 


The  University  of  California 


By  HARRY  ALLEN  OVERSTREET 


m 


The  University  of  California 


By  HARRY  ALLEN  OVERSTREET 


It  is  significant  of  the  place  which  the  University  of  California 
holds  in  the  political  organization  of  which  it  is  a  part,  that  its  date  of 
birth,  in  organic  idea,  is  one  with  the  birth-date  of  the  State.  The  very 
first  Constitution  of  the  incipient  commonwealth  prescribed  measures 
for  the  protection  and  proper  disposition  of  lands  granted  for  the  sup- 
port of  a  university  of  the  State  and  made  it  a  duty  of  the  Legislature 
to  "provide  effectual  means  for  the  improvement  and  permanent  security 
of  the  funds  of  said  university." 

But  although  a  university  of  the  State  was  thus  calted  for  by  the 
Constitution  of  1849.  it  was  not  until  1868  that  the  University  .of  Cal- 
ifornia was  founded.  The  intervening  years  were  years  of  preparation, 
with  their  many  uncertainties  as  to  the  character  of  the  new  institution, 
their  tentative  suggestions  and  rejected  plans,  and  often  their  periods 
of  gloomy  doubt  as  to  the  whole  affair.  Throughout  them  all,  however, 
are  found  the  traces  of  steadfast  effort  on  the  part  of  a  small  body  of 
earnest  men  toward  the  accomplishment  of  the  wished-for  end.  These 
men  in  public  and  private  utterances  made  the  voters  of  California  alive 
to  the  vital  need  of  an  adequate  university,  and  by  the  educative  influence 
of  their  arguments  kept  the  public  pressure  on  the  Legislature  suf- 
ficiently firm. 

The  Constitution  of  1849  had  not  been  able  to  make  definite  pro- 
vision for  the  support  of  the  proposed  university,  but  the  Constitutional 
Convention  had  prayed  Congress  to  adopt  such  measures  that  "seventy- 
two  sections  of  the  unappropriated  lands  within  the  State  should  be  set 
apart  and  reserved  for  the  use  and  support  of  the  university,  which, 
together  with  such  further  quantities  as  might  be  agreed  upon  by  Con- 
gress, should  be  conveyed  to  the  State  and  appropriated  solely  to  the  use 

363303 


and  support  of  the  universit  v."  Congress  responded  affirmatively  in 
IS,")))  with  a  grant  of  forty-six  thousand  and  eighty  acres  for  a  "seminary 
of  learning." 

With  the  income  from  these  lands  assured,  the  support  of  sonic  kind 

of  an   institution   appeared   a   certainty,  and  resolutions   were   passed   in 

^11  %*  *  i 

SHCCI ssive  Legislatures'  looking  to  the  organization  of  a  State  university. 
One  of  the  plans  proposed  at  this  time  is  remarkable  as.  an  indication 
of  what  higher  education  in  California  did  not  suffer  from  its  friends. 
As  recounted  l>v  Professor  William  Carey  Jones,  in  his  ffHi#l<n\i/  <>f  Ihr 
(' nirci^il  >/  of  California,"  "Bey.  Sam.  B.  Bell,  representing  Alameda 
and  Santa  (Mara  counties,  had  meanwhile  introduced  an  extraordinary 
hill  into  the  Senate  'for  organizing  the  University  of  the  State  of  Cali- 
fornia under  the  name  of  the  Regents  of  the  University  of  the  State 
of  California.'  .  .  .  The  bill  was  introduced  on  March  23,  1858, 
went  through  the  usual  course,  was  at  one  time  laid  on  the  table,  was 
tli en  called  ii i )  through  the  urgency  .of  Mr.  Bell,  and  on  April  16  passed 
.the  Senate.  1 1  was  then  sent  to  the  Assembly,  where  it  was  referred 
to  the  Committee  on  Education.  The  report  of  this  committee  was  one 
of  crushing  destruction  to  the  project.  The  proposition  of  the  bill  was  to 
sh  M  body  of  regents,  with  various  salaried  officers  appointed  bv 

including  a  chancellor,  vice-chancellor,  treasurer  and    secretary; 

e  under  this  board  all  the  colleges  then  established  and  thereafter 
to  be  established  in  the  State,  with  whatsoever  faculties  they  might  have, 
and  wheresoever  situated;  and  to  distribute  among  these  scattered  in- 
stitutions the  funds  that  were  designed  for  the  univ'ersit  v.  The  com- 
mittee declared  that  'such,  a  heterogeneous  combination  for  a  university' 
\vould  he  'impolitic,  impracticable,  and  not  the  institution  contemplated 
by  the  Act  of  Congress.'" 

In  IS.")  8  the  Legislature-  ordered  the -sale  of  the  public  lands  and 
directed  that  the  proceeds  be  held  by  the  Treasurer  of  the  State  as  a 
special  fund  to  he  devoted  to  the  uses  of  the '"'Seminary.''  But  notwith- 
standing the  official  urgings  of  Superintendents  of  "Public  Instruction, 
and  of  legislators,  plans  and  resolutions  in  these  years  still  came  to 
nothing. 

Clearly,  the  great  difficulty  in  the  way  of  establishing  a  university 
\\as  the  inadequacy  of  the  funds  at  hand.  With  the  income 'assured,  a 
vdry  small  college  might  have  been  maintained,  or  perhaps  a  polytechnic 
school  :  but  the  men  who  were  earnest  for  the  univcrsit  v  looked  for  some- 
thing better  than  this.  Hence  the  great  stimulus  to  effort  that  came  with 
the  passage  of  the  Morrill  Act  in  1862.  In  pursuance  of  ,1his  Act,  the 
I'nitcd  States  granted  to  California  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand, 
acres  for  the  endowment  of  a  college  which  should  have  for  its  main 


object  the  teaching  of  agriculture  and  mechanics.  Here  at  last  seemed 
an  adequate  provision  for  the  technical  branch  .of  a  university.  With 
this  assured,  the  State  might  now  devote  its  original  funds  to  the  mainte- 
nance of  other  faculties.  And  thus  the  question,  so  anxiously  debate*!  in 
former  years,  whether  the  State  should  divert  its  small  funds- to  aca- 
dcinic  education  or  to  technical  training  seemed,  answered  oven  beyond 
the  hopes  of  those  years,  by  the  possibility  of  combining  both  functions 
in  one  university. 

Consequently,  in  1863,  a  commission  was  appointed  to  report  a  plan 
for  the  founding  of  a  "seminary  of  learning."  The  commission's  report 
was  decisive  in  favor  of  a  single  institution,  but  to  the  chagrin  of 'the 
advocates  of  academic  education,  it  recommended  that ..the  • -proposed 
institution  should,  for  the  time  being,  be  simply  a  polytechnic  schooU- 

Largely  pursuant  of  this  report,  the  Legislature  of '1866  passed  an 
Act  to  establish  an  Agricultural,  Mining  and  Mechanical  Arts  College. 
A  Board  of  Directors  was  appointed,  to  serve  for  two  years,  which  was 
to  effect  plans  for  the  new  institution.  Fortunately  for  the  State,  how- 
ever, lief  ore  active  operations  were  begun,  Governor  Low.  in  n  consid- 
ering the  whole  matter,  detected  the  unwisdom  of  diverting  all  the 
State  moneys  for  higher  learning  to  a  purely  technical  training,  and 
in' liis  address  of  December  2,  1867,  urged  a  more  far-sighted  policy. 

But  it  is  difficult  to  say  what  would  have  been  the  fate  of  the  higlven 
institution  had  there  not  occurred  at  this  time  an  act  remarkable  for 
its  generosity  and  its  fine  public  spirit.  At  a  meeting  of  the  Board  of 
Trustees  of  the  College  of  California,  of  Oakland,  on  October  9,  1SU7. 
it  was  resolved  that  all  the  lands  and  buildings  of  the  college  be  offered 
as  a  gift  to  the  State,  on  the  sole  condition  that  the  State  permanently 
maintain  in  its  proposed  university  a  college  of  letters.  It  was  further 
resolved,  in  pursuance  of  this,  that  the  College  of  California  should 
disincorporate  so  soon  as  the  State  should  accept  its  offer  and  make  pro- 
vision for  the  continuance  of  a  college  of  classical  learning.  Here  was 
the  third  great  good  fortune  of  -the  State,  greater  and  more  touching 
than  the  others,  in  that  it  represented  the  deliberate  sacrifice  of  a  bodv 
of  public-spirited  men.  For  the  College  of  California  was  no  weakling 
product,  glad  to  make  itself  over  into  something  stronger  and  richer. 
Founded  in  1853  by  a  high-minded  minister  of  Xew  England,  Henry 
Durant,  it  had  grown  from  a  struggling  private  school  into  a  college  of 
recognized  worth  and  academic  dignity.  It  was  religious  in  its  char- 
acter, but  non-sectarian;  in  fact,  its  incepticn  had  been  in  the  ideal 
of  Henry  Durant  to  establish  on  the  new  western  coast  a  college  that 
should  be  Christian  in  a  more  fundamental  sense  than  the  ordinary 
sectarian  seminaries.  Under  the  efficient  administration  of  its  founder, 


it  had  come  to  hold  in  California  a  place  of  leading  influence  among 
Protestant  institutions.  Hence  it  was  a  matter  of  no  small  sacrifice 
when  it  magnanimously  withdrew  from  its  field  of  earned  success  in 
order  that  the  State  might  have  no  rival  in  its  high  effort. 

Tli is  generous  action  of  the  College  of  California  solved  the  prob- 
lem that  was  being  so  anxiously  debated.  Through  the  co-operative 
effort,  now,  of  the  Board  of  Directors  of  the  proposed  College  of  Agri- 
culture, Klines  and  Mechanical  Arts,  and  the  Board  of  Trustees  of  Cal- 
ifornia College,  a  system. of  university  organization  that  made  provision 
both  for  the  technical  education  required  by  the  Morrill  Act,  and  the 
classical  training  called  for  by  the  conditions  of  the  gift  of  California 
College  was  devised.  Governor  Haight,  in  his  inaugural  address,  recom- 
mended the  passage  of  a  law  establishing  the  university.  A  bill  to 
"create  and  organize  the  University  of  California"  was  introduced  on 
March  5.  1S(>S,  by  Hon.  John  W.  Dwindle.  On  March  21  it  passed 
both  houses  of  the  Legislature,  and  on  March  23  was  signed  by  Gov- 
ernor Haight.  Thus  was  the  period  of  tentative  planning  at  an  end. 
The  university  was  now  virtually  an  accomplished  fact. 

"A  State  university  is  hereby  created."  reads 'the  first  section  of  the 
Charter,  "'pursuant  to  the  requirements  of  Section  4,  Article  IX,  of  the 
Constitution  of  the  State  of  California;  and  in  order  to  devote  to  the 
largest  purpose  of  education  the  benefaction  made  to  the  State  of  Cal- 
ifornia" by  the  Morrill  -Act  of  1862.  "The  said  university  shall  he 
called  the  Tniversity  of  California,  and  shall  be  located  on  the  grounds 
heretofore  donated  to  the  State"  by  the  College  of  California. 
"The  university  shall  have  for  its  design  to  provide  instruction  and 
complete  education  in  all  the  departments  of  science,  literature,  art.  in- 
dustrial and  professional  pursuits,  and  general  education,  and  also 
special  courses  of  instruction  for  the  professions  of  agriculture,  the 
mechanic  arts,  mining,  military  science,  civil  engineering,  law.  med- 
icine and  commerce."  Thus  did  the  State  assure  its  youth  not  only  an 
adequate  training  in  preparation  for  material  activities,  but  also  a  real 
cultivation  of  character. 

In  accordance  with  its  Charter,  drawn  up  almost  entirely  by  Hon. 
John  W.  Dwindle,  the  government  of  the  university  was  vested  in  a 
hoard  of  regents,  an  academic  senate,  and  the  separate  faculties.  The 
•board  of  regents  was  to  consist  of  ex  officio  members,  viz.,  the  Governor 
of  the  State,  the  Lieutenant-Governor,  the  Speaker  of  the  Assembly, 
the  State  Superintendent  of  Public  Instruction,  the  President  of  the 
State  Agricultural  Society,  the  President  of  the  Mechanics'  Institute  of 
San  Francisco,  and  the  President  of  the  university;  eight  members  ap- 
pointed by  the  Governor,  and  eight  honorary  members,  elected  by  the 


appointed  and  ex  officio  members.  By  a  later  provision,  all  the  posi- 
tions on  the  board,  with  the  exception  of  those  officially  held,  became 
appointive.  The  following  provision  was  expressly  made  in  the  Charter: 
"No  sectarian,  political  or  partisan  test  shall  ever  be  allowed  or  exer- 
cised in  the  appointment  of  regents,  or  in  the  election  of  professors, 
teachers,  or  other  officers  of  the  university,  or  iii  the  admission  of 
students  thereto,  or  for  any  purpose  whatsoever.  Nor  at  any  time  shall 
the  majority  of  the  board  of  regents  be  of  any  one  religions  sect,  or  of 
no  religious  sect ;  and  persons  of  every  religious  denomination,  or  of  no 
religious  denomination,  shall  be  equally  eligible  to  all  offices,  appoint- 
ments and  scholarships."  Regents  were  to  hold  their  office  for  a  term 
of  sixteen  years.  The  members  first  appointed  were  to  be  classified  by 
lot,  so  that  one  member  should  go  out  of  office  at  the  end  of  every  suc- 
cessive two  years.  By  this  important  plan,  whereby  the  board  changed 
its  membership  gradually,  and  whereby  each  term  of  office  covered  a 
number  of  gubernatorial  administrations,  as  well  as  by  the  special  pro- 
vision already  noted  with  regard  to  sectarian  influence,  the  board  of 
regents  was  secured  against  the  pressure  both  of  political  and  theological 
considerations.  Unlike  many  provisions  of  this  kind,  this  one  has  been 
eminently  successful  in  its  operation,  for  it  is  a  recognized  fact  that  the 
board  of  regents,  as  it  has  gradually  changed  its  complexion  with  the 
years,  has  never  in  any  sense  been  subjected  to  illegitimate  pressure. 

The  original  constitution  of  the  University  provided  for  four  classes 
of  colleges:  (1)  College  of  Arts,  including  agriculture,  mechanics, 
mines  and  civil  engineering;  (2)  a  College  of  Letters,  or  classical 
course:  (3)  professional  colleges,  including  medicine  and  law;  (4)  other 
colleges  incorporated  into  or  affiliated  with  the  university. 

On  September  23,  1869,  the  new  university  opened  its  doors.  They 
were  the  doors,  to  be  sure,  of  the  College  of  California,  in  Oakland,  for 
there  had  not  yet  been  time  to  plan  and  bring  to  completion  the  build- 
ings of  the  new  institution;  but  those  doors  were  opened  now,  not  under 
private  endowment,  but  under  the  auspices  of  the  State.  The  university 
began  its  work  humbly,  indeed,  witli  a  class  of  forty  students  and  a 
teaching  force  of  ten  members.  Yet  there  was  power  in  this  simple 
beginning,  for  the  university  had  in  three  of  its  teachers,  at  least,  men 
who  were  to  prove  of  inestimable  worth  to  its  future  life — Henry 
Durant,  the  first  president  of  the  university;  John  LeConte,  professor 
of  physics  and  later  president  of  the  university,  and  Martin  Kellogg, 
professor  in  the  College  of  California,  professor  in  the  University  of 
California,  many  times  chairman  of  its  faculties,  and  later  president 
of  the  university.  The  last  of  these  has  only  just  passed  away,  in  ripe 
old  age  and  the  honor  of  approved  scholarship. 


8 

The  instruction  begun  in  the  College  of  California  buildings  in  1869 

w&s  continued  tin-re  until  the  summer  of  1873.     On  July  16,  1873.  the 

commencement  ex<  rcises  of  the  first  class  to  graduate — a  class  of  twelve 

—were  held  in  .Berkeley,  and  the  university  then  made  formal  entrance 

upon  its  new  home. 

The  university  was  from  1870  to  1872  under  the  presidency  of 
Ilenrv  Durant.  I'poii  his  resignation,  Professor  Daniel  Coit  Oilman 
accepted  the  call  to  the  position.  President  Oilman  remained  with  the 
university  until  1ST"),  when  the  fascinating  offer  extended  to  him  by 
the  incipient  Johns  Hopkins  L^niversity  successfully  tempted  him  from 
the  western  coast.  The  executive  office  was  then  filled  by  Professor 
John  LeConte. 

In  the  first  two  years  of  the  university's  existence,  two  important 
steps  were  taki  n  that  have  not  since  been  retraced.  In  18G9  all  ad- 
mission and  tuition  fei  s  were  abolished,  and  in  1870  the  university  was 
opened  to  women  on  terms  of  complete  equality  with  men.  The  latter 
provision  was  made  part  .of  the  State  Constitution  of  1879,  where  it 
was  expressly  statid  that  no  person  should  "be  debarred  admission  to 
any  of  the  collegiate  departments  of  the  university  on  account  of  sex." 

President  LeConte  resigned  his  office  in  1881  and  was  succeeded 
by  William  T.  Reid.  The  latter  held  office  until  1885,  when  he  was 
succeeded  by  Professor  Edward  S.  Holden.  The  new  president  was  to 
fill  the  vacancy  only  until  the  completion  of  the  Lick  Observatory,  when 
he  was  to  assume  the  position  of  its  director.  Upon  the  completion  of 
the  observatory  in  1SSS,  Hon.  Horace  Davis  was  elected  to  the  presi- 
dency, remaining  in  office  until  1890.  Upon  his  resignation,  the  otliee 
was  for  some  years  unfilled,  Professor  Martin  Kellogg  meanwhile  per- 
forming its  duties  as  chairman  of  the  faculties.  On  January  24,  1893, 
Professor  Kelloo-o-  W;ls  rl(,ctcd  to  the  presidency,  administering  his  office 
with  efficiency  until  1S99.  With  the  resignation  of  President  Kellogg 
and  the  election  of  his  honored  successor,  President  Benjamin  Lie 
Wheeler,  we  are  brought  to  tin1  present,  and  may  now  retrace  our  steps 
for  a  consideration  of  some  of  the  determining  events  in  the  life  of  the 
university  during  the  years  recounted. 

Betwiui  lSi;(.)  and  190:>.  the  growth  of  the  university  has  been  noth- 
ing Less  than  marvelous.  Beginning  with  a  total  registration  of  24.  and 
graduating  a  first  class  of  l:>.  the  university  has  grown  in  numbers,  until 
in  19<>:>  the  ollicial  registration  showed  a  total  of  2669  students  enrolled 
in  the  academic  colleges  alone;  while  in  the  university,  inclusive  of  ihe 
Afliliated  Colleges  o.f  Law.  Medicine,  Pharmacy  and  Art,  and  the  Lick 
Observatory,  there  was  a  total  of  3275.  The  instructing  force  has  in- 
creased from  10  in  1869  to  a  total  in  the  academic  colleges,  of  2-UJ 


* 


I 


9 

in  1903,  and  in  the  whole  university  of  434.  From  a  first  graduating 
class  of  12,  the  university  has  grown  until,  in  1902,  it  graduated  a  senior 
class  of  280  in  the  academic  colleges,  and  in  the  whole  university  a  class 
of  417. 

But  this  remarkable  growth  would  hardly  have  been  possible  had  not 
the  State  in  1887  generously  placed  at  the  disposal  of  the  university  a 
permanent  income  from  the  State  moneys.  In  1887,  the  Yrooman  Act, 
introduced  into  the  State  Senate  by  the  Hon.  Henry  Vrooman,  and 
into  the  Assembly  by  the  Hon.  C.  A.  Alexander,  provided  that  the  uni- 
versity should  receive  annually  the  proceeds  of  a  tax  of  one  cent  upon 
every  one  hundred  dollars  of  taxable  property  in  the  State.  Hardly 
could  a  law  more  vital  to  the  university  have  been  enacted,  for  b}^  plac- 
ing the  university's  support  upon  a  constitutional  and  not  a  legislative 
basis,  it  permanently  freed  the  institution  from  the  dangers  of  political 
variation. 

Thus  with  an  assured  income,  and  with  the  pledge  given  by  the 
State  in  its  Constitution  of  1879,  that  the  maintenance  of  the  university 
should  be  perpetual,  the  University  of  California  wras  able,  for  a  time 
at  least,  to  free,  itself  of  the  more  distressing  material  anxieties  and  to 
address  itself  to  its  essential  business  of  providing  a  culture  and  a 
training  that  should  be  adequate. 

But  a  great  difficulty  lay  in  its  pathway  in  the  early  years,  a  diffi- 
culty that  for  some  time  threatened  to  bring  all  its  efforts  to  naught.  To 
educate,  it  must  have  students,  and  to  be  a  university,  it  must  have 
students  trained  up  to  matriculation  standards  of  a  university.  The 
success  of  the  university,  then,  was  one  with  the  success  of  the  high 
schools  of  the  State.  It  may  be  imagined,  therefore,  how  severe  was  the 
blow  to  the  university  when,  by  the  Constitution  of  1879,  all  State  aid 
was  withdrawn  from  the  high  schools  and  all  the  State's  moneys  for 
common  schools  were  diverted  to  the  schools  of  elementary  grade.  For 
a  time  it  seemed  as  though  the  university  must  go  under  for  lack  of 
proper  material.  But  after  a  period  of  dark  uncertainty,  the  communi- 
ties throughout  the  State  bestirred  themselves  to  a  manful  local  support 
of  high  schools.  Thus  wras  this  realty  grave  danger  averted. 

But  a  second  danger  lay  in  the  complete  separation  of  high  schools 
and  university.  The  high  schools  pursued  their  work  as  best  they  knew 
how,  with  no  indication  as  to  the  university's  standards;  the  university 
pursued  its  work  irrespective  of  the  kind  of  training  given  in  the  high 
schools.  The  result  was  inevitable  friction  and  loss  of  energy  on  both 
sides.  It  was  soon  realized  by  the  university  that  if  it  was  to  be  sue-1 
cessful,  there  must  be  a  unified  high  school  system  in  the  State  that 
should  join  properly  writh  the  system  of  higher  training.  Hence  the 


10 

university  set  to  work  to  evolve  a  plan  whereby  secondary  and  higher 
education  might  be  brought  into  more  harmonious  conjunction.  . 

The  result  was  the  system,  since  then  become  permanent,  of  accredit- 
ing high  schools.  Before  this  plan  was  adopted  students  were  admitted 
to  the  university  only  upon  examination.  It  was  now  agreed  that 
students  who  should  graduate  from  high  schools  approved  by  the  uni- 
versity, and  who  should  have,  in  addition  to  their  diploma,  a  recom- 
mendation of  their  principal,  showing  their  work  to  have  been  of  supe- 
rior character,  might  enter  the  university  without  examination.  The 
effect  of  the  accrediting  system  upon  the  education  of  the  Stale  has 
been  of  the  very  best.  In  order  to  determine  the  character  of  the  various 
high  schools,  the  university  found  it  necessary  to  send  men  of  its  facul- 
ties to  examine  the  work  done.  This  at  once  brought  about  intercourse 
between  the  two  systems  of  education;  the  high  schools  learned  the  re- 
quirements of  the  university;  the  university  became  aware  of  the  needs 
and  the  obstacles  of  the  high  schools.  The  result  was  an  increasing!  v 
greater  unifying  of  the  whole  system  of  secondary  and  higher  educa- 
tion throughout  the  State.  And  the  effect  has  at  the  present  penetrated 
even  to  the  grammar  schools,  so  that  the  next  years  bid  fair  to  see  the 
triple  system  of  education  in  California,  with  all  its  past  waste  and 
friction,  rationally  and  uniformly  organized.  That  the  accrediting 
work  has  met  with  real  success  may  be  seen  from  the  fact  that  from 
three  accredited  high  schools  in  1884,  the  list  has  grown  until,  accord- 
ing to  the  last  report  (1903),  the  accredited  schools  of  the  State  now 
number  118. 

The  years  that  we  have  recorded  witnessed  many  important  acqui- 
sitions by  the  university.  The  Colleges  of  Law,  Pharmacy,  Dentistry  and 
Medicine  were  established  in  San  Francisco  and  affiliated  with  the  State 
institution.  The  munificent  bequest  of  $700,000  made  by  James  Lick, 
in  1876,  for  the  founding  and  equipment  of  an  astronomical  observatory 
gave  the  first  great  impetus  to  the  adequate  support  of  scientific  work 
in  California.  In  1872,  Mr.  Edw.  Tompkins,  by  a  grant  of  land  in 
Oakland,  established  the  first  endowed  chair  in  the  university,  the 
Agassiz  professorship  of  Oriental  Languages  and  Literature.  In  1878, 
Mr.  J.  K.  P.  Harmon  responded  to  a  much  felt  want  by  building  and 
equipping  a  students'  gymnasium  on  the  campus.  The  nucleus  of  one 
of  the  most  important  of  all  the  university's  funds,  the  library  fund, 
was  established  by  Michael  Reese;  while  the  founding  of  an  art  gallery 
was  due  to  the  generous  gift  of  Henry  D.  Bacon.  In  1881,  Mr.  D.  0. 
Mills,  by  a  gift  of  $75,000,  established  the  second  endowed  chair  in 
the  university,  the  Mills  Professorship  of  Intellectual  and  Moral  Philos- 
ophy and  Civil  Polity.  This  endowment  has  proved  of  inestimable  worth 


11 

to  the  higher  life  of  the  university.  In  1893,  Mr.  Edw.  Searles  trans- 
ferred to  the  university  the  land  and  buildings  in  San  Francisco  now 
known  as  the  Mark  Hopkins  Institute  of  Art  "for  the  exclusive  uses  and 
purposes  of  instruction  and  illustration  of  the  fine  arts,  music  and 
literature.'''  In  1898,  Miss  Cora  Jane  Flood  made  over  to  the  board  of 
regents  the  Flood  mansion,  near  Menlo  Park,  together  with  certain 
lands  and  shares. 

In  1891,  Mrs.  Phoebe  A.  Hearst  laid  the  foundations  of  a  scholar- 
ship system  in  the  university.  In  a  letter  to  the  board  of  regents,  of 
the  date  September  28.  1891,  she  expressed  her  aims  as  follows:  "It 
is  my  intention  to  contribute  annually  to  the  funds  of  the  University 
of  California  a  sum  sufficient  to  support  eight  three  hundred  dollar 
scholarships  for  worthy  young  women.  ...  I  bind  myself  to  pay 
this  sum  during  my  life  time,  and  I  have  provided  for  a  perpetual  fund 
after  my  death.  The  qualifications  entitling  students  to  the  scholar- 
ships shall  be  noble  character  and  high  aims,  it  being  understood  that 
without  the  assistance  here  given,  the  university  course  would  in  each 
case  be  impossible.  .  .  .  The  award  shall  be  made  by  a  vote  of  the 
faculty,,  but  I  do  not  wish"  any  scholarship  to  be  given  as  a  prize  for 
honors  in  entrance  examinations." 

Six  years  later,  when  the  doubling  of  the  university's  income  was 
assured  by  the  State  legislature,  the  university  appropriated  three 
thousand  and  five  hundred  dollars  "to  be  distributed  equally  among  the 
eight  Congressional  districts  of  the  State,  for  the  purpose  of  aiding  poor 
and  deserving  students  to  attend  the  State  University."  These  scholar- 
ships were  to  be  known  as  the  "State  of  California  Scholarships;"  they 
were  not  to  exceed  twenty-eight  in  number  and  were  to  yield  to  each 
holder  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  dollars  per  annum.  Immediately 
this  appropriation  was  made,  Mr.  Levi  Strauss  of  San  Francisco  gen- 
erously offered  to  duplicate  it,  the  scholarships  to  be  of  exactly  the  same 
character  with  regard  to  income  and  award  as  those  provided  by  the 
State. 

In  addition  to  these  sixty-two  scholarships,  .single  scholarships  have 
been  established  by  various  persons  and  institutions.  In  1899,  Mrs. 
Cornelius  B.  Houghton,  in  memory  of  her  husband,  made  provision  for 
an  annual  scholarship.  The  San  Francisco  Girls'  High  School,  the 
Hay  wards,  the  San  Jose  and  the  Los  Angeles  High  Schools  have  main- 
tained scholarship  funds  which  they  apportion  to  the  meriting  members 
of  their  schools.  Besides  these,  scholarships  are  awarded  out  of  the 
William  and  Alice  Hinckle}*  fund  and  the  Joseph  Bonnheim  memorial 
fund.  For  the  encouragement  of  graduate  work,  the  university  awards 
the  LeConte  Memorial  Fellowship,  established  by  the  Alumni  Association, 


12 

in  memory  of  Professors  John  and  Joseph  LeConte,  three  University 
Fellowships  at  the  Lick  Observatory,  two  Whitin?  Traveling  Fellow- 
ships, maintained  out  of  a  bequest  of  $20,000  made  by  the  will  of  Harold 
Whiting,  formerly  associate  professor  of  physics  in  the  university,  two 
Emanu-El  Fellowships  in  Semitic  languages,  established  by  the  Congre- 
gation Emanu-El  of  San  Francisco;  the  Harvard  Club  scholarship,  and 
the  Yale  Alumni  Fellowship,  founded  and  maintained  by  graduates 
of  these  universities.  In  addition,  the  university  has  two  loan  funds,  the 
Frank  J.  Walton  Memorial  Loan  Fund,  established  by  the  Class  of  1883, 
and  the  loan  fund  of  the  Class  of  1886. 

We  have  already  mentioned  the  State's  grant  to  the  university  in 
1887  of  an  income  of  one  cent  on  every  one  hundred  dollars  of  taxable 
property.  For  a  few  years  the  funds  thus  accruing  were,  economically 
administered,  adequate  to  the  needs  of  the  university.  But  then  came 
a  period  of  unprecedented  growth.  Within  five  years — from  1891  to 
1896 — the  enrollment  of  the  university  increased  by  a  full  three-fold, 
while  the  funds  at  its  disposal  remained  practically  unaltered.  The  in- 
stitution was  in  direst  straits,  not  only  because  it  had  no  means  to  aug- 
ment its  teaching  force  'sufficiently  to  meet  the  larger  needs,  but  also 
because  it  was  unable  even  to  provide  room  for  the  ever-increasing 
numbers. 

Determined  action  was  necessary.  In  a  report  to  the  board  of 
regents  in  May,  1896,  the  Ways  and  Means  Committee,  consisting  of 
Regents  Reinstein,  Black,  and  Rodgers,  made  a  statement  of  the  uni- 
versity's distress  that  became  a  basis  for  an  appeal  to  the  State  Legis- 
lature. 

"The  provision  made  by  the  State  of  California  for  the  constantly  increas- 
ing wants  of  the  State  University  is  embodied  in  the  Act  of  the  Legislature 
of  1887,  and  consists  of  a  tax  of  one-tenth  of  a  mill  on  the  dollar. 

"At  that  time  the  number  of  students  in  the  University  was  288,  while 
now  it  is  1336  (at  Berkeley).  The  provision  then  made  by  the  Legislature 
was  considered  just  sufficient  for  the  then  needs  of  the  University,  and  it  was 
anticipated  that  the  taxable  wealth  of  the  State  would  increase  in  just  about 
the  proportion  that  the  University  would  grow,  and  thus  meet  and  provide  for 
the  constantly  increasing  demands  of  the  University  through  the  enlargement 
of  the  number  of  its  students.  This  expectation  seemed  then  to  be  well  founded, 
and  was  justified  by  the  growth  of  the  University  for  the  succeeding  four  years, 
but  since  the  year  1891,  the  number  of  students  at  the  University,  which  was 
then  456,  has  increased  to  a  degree  as  remarkable  as  it  is  gratifying. 

"Within  the  last  four  years  the  number  of  students  at  the  State  University 
has  trebled,  and  is  at  the  present  writing  1336,  while  in  the  entire  University, 
including  its  affiliated  colleges,  the  number  is  2047,  while  the  indications  are 
that  the  next  Freshman  class  will  outnumber  all  before  it.  The  income  of  the 
University  from  this  Act,  however,  so  far  from  doubling,  has  increased  only 


IB 

an   insignificant   amount  within   the   last  five  years,  and  is  actually  less  in  1895 
than  in  1894  or  1893. 

''Under  these  circumstances  alone,  it  is  but  reasonable  to  believe  that  the 
next  Legislature  will  take  such  steps  as  will  be  commensurate  with  the  power, 
the  pride,  and  the  dignity  of  a  sovereign  State,  when  it  realizes  that  the  pro- 
vision for  the.  support  of  the  University  made  by  the  Legislature  in  1887  i- 
entirely  inadequate  to  the  present  quadrupled  demands  of  the  University,  and 
still  less  adequate  to  maintain  that  constantly  increasing  prosperity  of  the 
State's  highest  institution  of  learning,  which  is  a  just  source  of  State  pride 
and  an  essential  condition  of  State  dignity  and  prosperity." 

In  response  to  this  statement  of  needs  a  bill  was.  in  1897.  introduced 
l>y  Hon.  F.  S.  Stratton  into  the  Senate,  and  into  the  Assembly  by  Hon. 
Howard  E.  Wright,  which  provided  that  the  university's  income  should 
be  increased  to  two  cents  on  every  hundred  dollars  of  taxable  property. 
To  the  "Teat  relief  of  all  friends  of  the  university,  the  bill  passed  botb 
House's  without  opposition  and  was  signed  by  Governor  Bndd  on  Feb- 
ruary 27,  1897.  Thus  did  the  State  a  second  time  prove  her  deep  and 
zib  id  ing  interest  in  the  welfare  of  her  university. 

To  one  who  has  visited  the  university,  nothing  can  be  more  strikingly 
obvious  than  the  painful  contrast  between  the  character  of  its  site  and 
its  buildings.  Situated  on  the  foothills  of  the  Contra  Costa  range,  and 
looking  westward  out  through  the  Golden  Gate,  its  natural  placing  is  al- 
most unmatched.  Yet  with  this  remarkable  beauty  of  location  is 
coupled  an  equally  remarkable  ugliness  of  makeshift  buildings.  Tin- 
pressing  difficulty  that  the  university  faced  in  the  years  of  its  rapid 
growth  was  that  of  finding,  not  the  best  room,  but  any  kind  of  room  for 
its  students;  and  in  attempting  to  solve  this  difficulty  with  an  inade- 
quate income,  the  only  resort  was  in  hastily  constructed  temporary 
buildings.  The  sole  virtue  of  these  was  their  cheapness  and  their  capac- 
ity. As  a  result,  the  succeeding  years  saw  the  beautiful  campus  crowded 
more  and  more  with  homely  buildings,  scattered  about  with  hardly  a 
thought  of  present  or  future  plan.  That  this  haphazard  construction 
was  unwise  and  ruinous  to  the  beauties  of  the  university's  site  was 
felt  by  many,  but  two  men  especially  put  their  convictions  into  serious 
and  concerted  effort.  Mr.  B.  E.  Maybeck,  instructor  in  architectural 
drawing  in  the  university,  had  long  felt  the  need  of  a  permanent  plan 
for  the  placing  and  style  of  the  university  buildings,  and  he  was  active 
in  making  known  his  views.  They  were  heartily  seconded  by  Mr.  J.  B. 
Reinstein.  a  regent  of  the  university,  so  heartily  that  as  a  result  of  a 
communication  addressed  to  the  board  of  regents  on  April  29,  1896, 
the  board  voted  that  there  should  be  prepared  a  programme  "for  a  per- 
manent and  comprehensive  plan,  to  be  open  to  general  competition,  for 
a  system  of  buildings  to  be  erected  upon  the  grounds  of  the  University 


14 

of  California  in  Berkeley."  Before  the  resolve  of  the  board  had  been 
put  into  effective  operation,  however,  it  came  to  the  notice  of  Mrs. 
Phoebe  A.  Hearst,  who  had  herself  long  been  deeply  eoneerned  in  the 
architectural  beautifying  of  the  university.  Mr?.  Hearst,  with  a  gen- 
erositv.  spontaneous  and  admirable,  wrote  at  once  to  the  board  of  re- 
gents, expressing  her  great  interest  in  the  project  and  her  desire  to  con- 
tribute wholly  the  expenses  of  the  proposed  competition.  Needless  to  say 
that  the  ofl'er  so  totally  unsolicited  and  so  magnificent  beyond  expecta- 
tions was  gratefully  accepted  by  the  board. 

It  is  impossible  in  this  cursory  history  of  the  university  to  give  more 
than  the  barest  outline  of  the  course  of  the  "Phoebe  A.  Hearst  Archi- 
tectural Competition."  That  contest  of  the  world's  known  artists  has 
become  so  internationally  famous  that  it  hardly  needs  more  than  men- 
tion to  have  its  whole  story  recalled.  In  preparing  for  the  competition, 
the  two  men  who  had  been  most  zealous  in  the  cause  were  commissioned 
to  canvass  the  leading  architects  of  the  world  to  the  end  of  enlisting 
adequate  interest  and  of  preparing  a  just  plan  of  contest.  After  careful 
consideration  a  programme  was  drawn  up,  providing  for  two  competi- 
tions, a  preliminary  one,  to  be  held  in  Antwerp,  and  a  final  one,  to  be 
held  in  San  Francisco.  The  committee  of  award  was  to  consist  of 
.Messrs.  U.  Norman  Shaw,  J.  L.  Pascal,  Paul  Wollot,  Walter  Cook  and 
.1.  B.  Kcinstein.  Owing  to  the  illness  of  Mr.  Shaw.  Mr.  John  Belcher 
was  substituted  in  his  place.  The  preliminary  competition  opened  on 
.January  15,  1898,  and  closed  July  1,  1898.  Of  the  10.5  plans  received, 
eleven  were  selected  by  the  jury  to  stand  for  the  final  contest.  As  a 
help  toward  the  further  preparation  of  their  plans,  the  winners  in  the 
first  award  were  invited,  at  the  expense  of  Mrs.  Hearst,  to  visit  the  uni- 
versity town.  The  second  contest,  in  San  Francisco,  on  September  7, 
1899,  resulted  in  the  following  award:  first  prize,  Mons.  E.  Benanl. 
Paris;  second  prize,  Messrs.  Howells,  Stokes  and  Hornbostel,  Xcw  York: 
third  prize,  Messrs.  D.  Despradelle  and  Stephen  Codman,  Boston;  fourth 
prize,  Messrs.  Howard  and  Cauldwell.  Xew  York;  fifth  prize.  Messrs. 
Lord,  Hewlett  and  Hull,  Xew  York. 

This  i's  but  a  bare  statement  of  the  essential  facts  of  the  contest. 
But  if  one  would  know  the  reality  of  the  Phoebe  A.  Hearst  architectural 
competition  one  must  read  into  the  skeletal  bones  of  these  facts,  all  the 
loyal  enthusiasm,  the  ardor  of  hope,  the  fire  of  great  purpose  awakened 
by  the  project.  If  the  plan  had  meant  merely  an  embellishing  of  the 
outer  life  of  the  university,  it  would  have  signified  little  indeed  ;  hut 
ostensibly  a  remedy  for  the  outward,  it  called  forth  in  the  State  and  in 
the  university  the  firm  determination  that  the  inner  life  should  not  be 
unworthv. 


16 

Yet  it  must  not  be  thought  that  it  was  ever  in  the  intent  of  the 
donor  that  the  plan  should  serve  merely  as  a  means  to  outer  embellish- 
ment  Mrs.  Hearst  has  long  felt  that  beauty  serves  an  essential  need  of 
the  soul,  that  in  plaeing  beautiful  objects  before  the  maturing  student 
one  helps  to  develop  pure,  strong  character  us  surely  as  with  the  spoken 
truth.  Mrs.  Hearst  has  for  some  years  been  proving  the  strength  of 
her  conviction  by  providing  the  students  of  the  university  with  best 
examples  of  the  fine  arts.  With  art  collections  and  concerts  of  a  superior 
kind,  she  has  opened  the  eyes  and  the  ears  of  the  student  to  beauty.  The 
work  has  been  none  the  less  great  that  the  refining  and  purifying  in- 
fluence has  been  all  unconscious. 

In  this  recital  of  the  university's  growth,  we  have  made  no  reference 
to  its  attempts  to  fulfill  one  of  the  main  purposes  of  its  establishment. 
The  grant  of  the  Morrill  Act  of  1862  was  made,  as  we  have  seen,  on 
condition  that  an  institution  be  founded  that  should  have  primarily 
in  view  a  training  in  agriculture.  The  university  has  attempted  to 
moet  this  requirement  to  the  full;  and  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  as  the 
years  have  passed  its  efforts  have  been  successful.  Up  to  1891,  work  in 
agriculture  was  entirely  within  the  university  confines.  In  that  year, 
however,  was  inaugurated  the  custom  of  holding  Farmers'  Institutes 
throughout  the  State.  By  this  means  the  university  came  into  touch 
with  the  farmers  of  California,  with  a  success  that  is  indicated  by  the 
yearly  increase  in  the  number  of  institutes  held.  In  1897,  so  important 
had  this  work  beyond  the  university's  doors  become,  that  a  new  depart- 
ment was  created,  a  Department  of  University  Extension  in  Agriculture. 
By  means  of  the  information  disseminated  at  these  institutes,  as  well  as 
through  its  frequent  bulletins,  the  agricultural  department  of  the  uni- 
versity has  enabled  the  State  not  only  to  increase  in  very  large  degree 
its  present  agricultural  earnings,  hut  also  to  make  sure  the  permanent 
fertility  of  its  soils. 

On  July  18,  1899,  the  university  entered  upon  a  new  stage  of  its 
development  in  the  election  to  its  presidency  of  Professor  Benjamin  Ide 
Wheeler,  of  Cornell  University.  The  four  years  and  a  half  of  President 
Wheeler's  administration  have  witnessed  a  remarkable  growth  in  the 
university's  prosperity,  lx>th  in  the  inner  life  that  is  more  properly  its 
concern  and  in  the  material  resources  that  must  ever  be  indispensable. 
Those  years  have  proved  most  especially  the  deep  love  of  Californians, 
rich  and  poor  alike,  for  their  university.  In  1900-1902.  the  gifts  to  the 
university,  from  private  sources  alone,  amounted  to  about  $900,000. 
As  we  are  writing  this,  word  has  just  been  received  of  a  bequest  of  some 
$500.000  to  $600,000  by  one  of  San  Francisco's  leading  business  men, 
Mr.  Charles  F.  Doe,  for  the  building  of  a  new  university  library.  But 


K; 

it  is  not  in  the  public-spirited  wealthy  alone  that  the  university  is  be- 
ginning to  find  her  strength.  In  countless  ways  donations  are  being 
made  bv  those  of  more  modest  income.  From  the  five  dollars  that  comes 
as  an  annual  gift  from  an  anonymous  alumnus,  or  the  scholarship  money 
returned  bv  another  graduate,  to  the  more  substantial  gifts  for  library 
or  departments.  It  is  of  deepest  significance  that  California's  Alumni 
feel  the  impulse  to  give  of  their  own,  for  in  this  abiding  love  for  their 
universitv  lies  the  real  promise  of  her  permanent  and  increasing  great- 
ness. 

It  will  be  fitting  at  this  point  to  mention  some  of  the  leading  bene- 
factions to  the  university  in  the  years  of  President  Wheeler's  adminis- 
tration. Only  a  bare  handful  may  be  recounted  in  this^  brief  history. 
Significant  of  his  concern  for  the  higher  life  of  the  university  was  the 
gift,  in  1902,  by  Mr.  D.  0.  Mills,  of  $50,000  for  the  furtherance  of  the 
work  of  the  Department  of  Philosophy.  This  was  in  addition  to  M  r. 
Mills'  original  gift  of  $75,000  for  the  establishment  of  a  chair  of  philos- 
ophy. The  endowment  of  another  important  chair — in  classics — is  due 
to  the  generosity  of  Mrs.  J.  K.  Sather.  who  lias  given  $75,000  for  that 
purpose.  Mrs.  Sather  has  also  made  over  to  the  university  real  prop- 
ertv  of  great  value  for  the  establishment  and  support  of  a  law  library, 
and  has,  in  addition,  made  important  gifts  of  books.  The  construction 
of  a  Physiology  building,  at  an  expense  of  $25,000,  has  been  made  pos- 
sible by  the  generosity  of  Mr.  Eudolph  Spreckels,  and  its  thorough 
equipment  by  Dr.  Max  Herzstein's  gift  of  $8000.  A  most  important 
addition  to' the  library  of  political  science,  finance,  and  history  has  been 
made  by  Mr.  Clans  Spreckels'  gift  of  $11,675.82.  Mr.  H.  Weinstoek 
has  presented  the  university  with  $5000  as  a  foundation  fund  for  the 
"Barbara  Weinstoek  Lecture  on  the  Morals  of  Trade."  One  of  the  sorest 
needs  of  the  university  has  been  met  in  the  construction  of  a  great  open- 
air  theater,  built  on  the  model  of  the  Greek  Theater,  and  seating  some 
7000  people.  Mr.  W.  R,  Hearst  contributed  the  $10,000  necessary  for 
the  building  of  this  unique  structure.  An  assemblage  place,  not  only 
capacious  but  singularly  beautiful,  it  will  prove  a  source  of  stimulation 
in  ways  that  have  heretofore  been  beyond  the  universitv's  power  to 
realize. 

When  we  attempt  to  recount  Mrs.  Hearst's  gifts  to  the  university 
the  pen  fails.  They  are  numerous  beyond  any  possible  listing,  because 
many  of  them  are  known  only  to  Mrs.  Hearst  herself.  We  have  alreadv 
recounted  Mrs.  Hearst's  assumption  of  the  expenses  of  the  architectural 
competition.  Mrs.  Hearst  is  now  erecting,  in  accordance  with  the  ac- 
cepted plans,  a  mining  building  as  a  memorial  to  her  husband.  Senator 
Hearst.  The  minimum  cost  of  this  building  will  be  half  a  million  of 


17 

dollars.  She  is  maintaining,  the  department  of  anthropology,  expend- 
ing $10. (MKi  a  year  for  five  years  for  excavations  and  research  in  Kgvpt. 
$3500  a  vear  for  five  vears  for  the  like  work  in  South  America,  $10. (MID 
a  year  for  two  years  for  research  in  Greece,  and  $(iOOO  a  year  for  anthro- 
pological work  in  California^  Mexico  and  New  Mexico.  The  mainte- 
nance of  this  department  alone  for  1900-1902  was  at  a  cost  of  $103.0-16. 
She  has  contributed  over  $(5000  for  a  museum  building,  has  presented 
the  university  with  Hearst  Hall,  valued  at  $.")(). 000,  has  supported  the 
Hearst  Domestic  Industries  at  an  annual  cost  of  over  $1">.000,  has  pro- 
vided over  $27.000  for  j:he  equipment  of  the  medical  department. 
$1:5.000  for.  a  mining  laboratory.  $8400  for  the  equipment  of  gym- 
nasiums. The  president"-  biennial  report  of  1898-1900  gives  the  fol- 
lowing figures  for  the  two  years  recorded:  "The  total  of  gifts  for  which 
figures  have  been  given  in  the -foregoing  list  (exclusive  of  the  support 
of  archaeological  expeditions  of  about  $.'50.000  a  year)  is  $27.1,566^65. 
This  amount  is.  however,  far  less  than  what  Mrs.  Hearst  has  actually 
expended  for  the  benefit,  direct  or  indirect,  of  the  university." 

But  to  write  a  list  of  Airs.  Hearst's  gifts  to  the  university  is  all  un- 
satisfactory, for  the  real  significance  of  them  lies  not  so  much  in  their 
magnificence,  if  one  may  use  the  word,  but  rather  in  the  fine  insight  of 
the  giver,  the  sympathetic  touch  with  younger  lives,  the  personal  de- 
light in  discovering  the  deepest  and  the  most  real  needs.  And  though 
great  bevond  reckoning  has  been  the  tale  of  her  free-will  offerings, 
greater,  after  all.  and  more  lasting  in  worth  for  the  university  has 
fine  idealism  of  her  character,  her  unswerving  faith  in  the 
if ul  and  the  true  and  the  good,  and  her  high  efforts  toward  their 
at  ion  in  her  chosen  children. 

And  yet.  even  with  this  generosity  of  her  friends,  the  university  has 
not  been  wholly  free  of  embarrassment.  Almost,  it  might  be  said,  it 
has  suffered  from  'too  much  good-will.  In  1S9S-99.  the  total  registra- 
tion of  students,  including  those  in  the  professional  colleges,  was  2i:>9: 
in  l!'02-o:5  it  bad  leaped  to  .'12  •''.").  In  lS!)S-99  the  total  registration  in 
the  aerdemie  colleges  ah 'ie  was  1717:  in  1902-0:5  it  had  increased  by 
more  than  one-half,  being  in  that  }~ear  2669.  Meanwhile  the  two-cent 
tax.  which,  in  1<S!M)  had  been  just  sufficient  to  meet  the  university's 
needs,  yielded  an  income  that  increased  only  verv  slightly  from  year  to 
vear.  Between  1899-1900  and  1901-1902  it  grew  by  but  4.4  per  cent. 
Had  it  "not. been  for  the  generous  aid  of  its  private  friends,  writes  Presi- 
dent Wheeler  in  his  report  of  1900-02,  "the  university  would  have  been 
crippled  and  well-nigh  helpless."  But  though  there  may  be  temporary 
embarrassments,  the  historv  of  the  past  and  the  interest  of  the  present 
have  taught  the  university  to  fear  no  permanent  distress.  The  last  State 


18 

Legislature  proved  itself  alive  to  the  university's  needs  by  granting, 
in  addition  to  other  lesser  appropriations,  $250,000  for  the  erection  of 
an  administrative  building. 

Although  numbers  are  hardly  a  criterion  of  a  university's  worth,  it 
will  be  interesting,  nevertheless,  to  refer  to  the  table  of  comparative 
sizes  of  American  universities,  prepared  by  Professor  Albert  Bushnell 
Hart  for  the  Harvard  Graduates'  Magazine  in  1900.  "The  list  shows 
that  in  the  number  of  undergraduates  the  University  of  California  is 
exceeded  only  by  Harvard;  in  the  grand  total  of  students,  including 
undergraduates,  professional  students  and  summer  school  students,  it 
is  exceeded  only  by  Harvard,  Columbia,  Michigan  and  Minnesota,  in  the 
order  named." 

During  President  Wheeler's  administration,  important  changes  have 
been  made  in  the  internal  structure  of  the  University.  In  1899,  a  sum- 
mer school  was  systematically  organized,  with  an  attendance  of  161 
'students.  In  1900,  the  records  showed  433  students  registered;  in  1901, 
799;  in  1902,  830,  and  in  1903,  859.  The  success  of  the  work  has  been 
so  marked,  especially  in  the  intercourse  which  it  establishes  with  the 
leading  men  of  Eastern  and  European  Universities,  that  the  summer 
school  promises  to  be  permanent. 

As  in  its  examination  of  schools  and  its  Farmers'  Institutes,  the  Uni- 
versity aimed  to  come  into  closer  touch  with  the  people  of  the  State,  so. 
in  1902,  it  prepared  to  meet  the  more  popular  needs  for  instruction  and 
stimulus  by  the  organization  of  a  Department  of  University  Extension. 
This  Department,  planned  largely  on  the  lines  of  the  English  system. 
has  established,  centers  of  extension  work  throughout  the  State,  which 
are  visited  by  a  corps  of  lecturers  whose  duties  lie  entirely  or  mainly  in 
the  extension  field.  The  success  in  this  work,  too,  promises  permanence. 

•Important  for  the  professional  teaching  of  the  University  has  been 
the  wise  reorganization  of  the  Medical  Department.  In  the  past  years, 
the  Medical  College  was  perforce  compelled  to  resort  almost  entirely 
to  practicing  physicians  of  San  Francisco  for  its  instructing  body. 
While  the  efforts  of  the  men  who,  in  the  midst  of  their  medical  labors, 
gave  of  their  time  and  strength  to  the  College,,  may  not  be  too  highly 
praised,  it  is  nevertheless  obvious  that,  excellent  as  these  efforts  were, 
they  could  not  be  made  adequate  for  a  medical  school  of  highest  scholarly 
rank.  President  Wheeler,  in  his  first  report  to  the  Board  of  Regents, 
called  attention  to  the  need  for  better  organization  of  the  Medical  Depart- 
ment, and  it  is  due  to  his  efforts  that  the  succeeding  years  have  witnessed 
an  increasingly  better  equipment  and  disposition  of  the  mcdii-al  work. 

Graduate  work  in  the  University  has  in  the.  last  few  years  been  or- 
ganized with  growing  success.  Not  only  has  the  number  of  graduate 


19 

students  increased  with  great  rapidity,  as  indicated  by  an  enrollment  of 
\M  1  students  in  1903  as  against  64  in  189)5.  hut  the  work  ha>  come  to  be 
of  a  more  distinctly  advanced  kind  than  in  the  years  of  its  inception. 
The  departments  now  recognize  a  radical  difference  in  aim  and  methods 
1  iet  ween  undergraduate  and  advanced  work,  so  that  the  higher  degrees 
DOW  signify  not  a  mere  prolonging  of  the  period  of  residence,  but  the 
successful  completion  of  work  of  a  thoroughly  graduate  nature. 

A  factor  of  great  importance  in  the  University's  life  is  its  function 
as  a  training  school  for  prospective  teachers  of  the  State.  By  a  law 
of  the  State.  Boards  of  Education  and  Examination  have  authority  to 
issue  certificates  of  high  school  grade,  without  examination,  to  graduates 
of  the  University  who  are  recommended  by  the  Faculty.  The  operation 
of  this  law  has  been  of  utmost  benefit  to  California,  in  that  it  has  en- 
couraged the  University  to  send  forth  trained  students  into  the  high 
school  field.  The  result  has  been  not  only  a  bettering  of  the  tone  and 
scholarly  character  of  secondary  teaching,  but  also  a  securer  and  more 
sympathetic  drawing  together  of  the  University  and  high  school  forces. 
The  coming  years  bid  fair  to  witness  the  long-desired  establishment  of 
a  Teachers'  College. 

The- University  has  established  a  regular  series  of  publications  in 
each  of  the  following  departments:  Botany.  Geology,  Education, 
Zoology,  Gra3co-Roman  Archaeology,  Egyptian  Archaeology,  American 
Archaeology  and  Ethnology,  Anthropology,  Physiology,  Pathology. 
Astronomy,-  and  Agriculture.  It  also  issues,  every  quarter,  the  Uni- 
rrrxity  Chronicle.,  which  is  an  official  record  of  University  life. 

The  University  now  comprises  the  following  Colleges  and  Depart- 
ments: 

College  of  Letters,  College  of  Social  Sciences,  College  of  Xatural 
Sciences,  College  of  Commerce,  College  of  Agriculture.  College  of 
Mechanics.  College  of  Mining.  College  of  Civil  Engineering,  College  of 
Chemistry,  Lick  Astronomical  Department,  Mark  Hopkins  Institute  of 
Art,  Hastings  College  of  the  Law,  Medical  Department.  Post-Graduate 
Medical  Department,  Dental  Department,  California  College  of  Phar- 
macy. 

In  this  very  brief  account  of  the  University's  life,  it  has  clearly  been 
impossible  to  trace  out,  with  the  explicit  detail  that  their  importance 
warrants,  the  factors  and  forces  that  have  made  the  institution  what  it 
is.  But  bare  as  the  outlines  are,  they  may,  if  nothing  more,  serve  to 
suggest  the  peculiar  conditions  amid  which  a  State  University  is  placed, 
the  difficulties  of  its  development,  the  boundless  scope  of  its  oppor- 
tunities. The  University  of  California  has  not  made  its  way  without 
struggles  peculiar  to  an  institution  that  finds  its  support  in  the  suffrage 


20 

of  the  people.  It  is  of  the  deepest  import  to  the  cause  of  publie  higher 
education  that  it  has  won  its  support  without  truckling,  thai  it  has  never 
lowered  its  ideals  to  temporary  public  wishes,  but  has  held  high  the 
standard  of  pure  scholarship.  The  University  of  California  is  to-dav 
without  doubt  a  permanent  factor  in  the  life  of  the  State,  and 
as  such,  the  outgoing  of  its  influence  may  not  be  measured.  With  its 
sister  University,  it  stands  for  the  development  of  the  very  highest  in 
the  character  of  California.  It  may  be  extravagant  to  predict,  as  some 
are  pleased  to  do.  that  in  California  a  new  note  in  world  thought  and 
feeling  is  to  be  sounded — a  new  literature,  art.  philosophy.  Yet  it  is 
hardly  extravagant  to  feel  convinced  that  California  is  immense  in 
possibilities  of  culture,  that  her  birth  to  a  richer  life  is  even  now  but 
just  accomplished,  while  the  greatness  of  her  days  may  scarcely  be 
foretold.  In  the  midst  of  this  youthful  promise,  the  two  vigorous 
Universities  stand  as  nurturers  of  the  best.  If  the  life  of  the  past  is 
promise  of  the  future,  California  is  assuredly  secure  in  the  high 
character  of  her  University  guides. 


The  LeConte  Oak 

Courtesy  of  Needham  Bros.,  Berkeley 


Oversireet,  H.A.        363303 

The  University  of 
California    a  moaog raph 


Cay  lord  Bros. 

Makers 

Syracuse,  N.Y. 
ML  JAM.  21   .IMS 


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